There is no way for any satirist to improve upon real life for its pure absurdity, as British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge once quipped:

While Malcolm Muggeridge was the editor of Punch, it was announced that Khrushchev and Bulganin were coming to England. Muggeridge hit upon the idea of a mock itinerary, a lineup of the most ludicrous places the two paunchy pear-shaped little Soviet leaders could possibly be paraded through during the solemn process of a state visit. Shortly before press time, half the feature had to be scrapped. It coincided exactly with the official itinerary, just released, prompting Muggeridge to observe: We live in an age in which it is no longer possible to be funny. There is nothing you can imagine, no matter how ludicrous, that will not promptly be enacted before your very eyes, probably by someone well known.

The old joke is that if the end of the world was announced, the New York Times would run as a headline: WORLD ENDING TOMORROW, WOMEN AND MINORITIES HARDEST HIT. That joke dates back to at least the 1970s, if I’m remember correctly. In any case, it’s too bad that far left Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison didn’t remember it, when he tweeted:

Of course, “communities of color” would be less vulnerable to “death from heat waves,” if access to air conditioning was made more affordable to all — a concept something that’s anathema to all global warming true believers, as the New York Times, Slate, andSalonhave all broadcasted to the Web, via their air-conditioned server farms.

I’ve noticed communities of color are more vulnerable to deaths from heat waves when I’ve travelled in Africa. When the temperature unexpectedly rose, from the veranda of my rented mansion, I witnessed hundreds dying of heat stroke, completely unable to cope with the African climate. Ditto Okinawa, the Philippines, Indonesia, and everywhere else along the equator I’ve travelled.